TOURISM >Islamic-style hotel demand up 200 pct

“Family style” holidays, or the kind of holidays preferred by more conservative members of Turkish society, have witnessed a 200 percent rise over the past five years, according to daily Milliyet.

“Every year new facilities are built to accommodate these holiday-goers, but there is so much demand that they are not enough,” said Şah Inn Paradise General Manager Yusuf Yücel. Şah Inn Paradise is one such five-star hotel in Antalya, a coastal resort town in southern Turkey that caters to a more conservative clientele.

“Six years ago we entered the hotel sector with the ‘family style’ concept. When we came up with this notion, we weren’t just thinking of the conservative segment. We came up with a model that would take into account jealous spouses, families and women, in line with Turkish norms and values,” Yücel explained to daily Milliyet.

“Turks have really taken a liking to this concept. When our customers are on vacation they are both at peace and comfortable because we provide them with the kind of holiday that they want and are accustomed to,” he added.

Facilities like Şah Paradise Inn are currently not enough to meet demand, according to Yücel, who said no other country in the world offered this sort of holiday concept.

The “family style” holiday concept has seen a 200 percent boom over the past five years and Yücel expects an even greater increase in the coming period. As a result, they are focusing on new investments, such as a new facility in Antalya’s Belek region.

“We have a project to build a five-star hotel that will be open all year round … In the next few years the Şah Paradise Inn label will also expand into the thermal and city hotel concept,” he said.